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December 27, 2007

Kent Lebsock of Owe Aku

Today we will be speaking with Kent Lebsock of the Owe Aku or Bring Back the Way organization situated on the Pine Ridge Lakota Reservation. We will bring an urgent matter regarding Debra and Alex White Plume of the Oglala Lakota who recently visited New York and for the screening of "Standing Silent Nation" a Point of View's national telecast on Public Broadcasting System.

In April 2000, Alex White Plume and his Lakota family planted industrial hemp on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota after other crops had failed. But when federal agents raided the White Plumes' fields, the Lakota Nation was swept into a struggle over tribal sovereignty, economic rights and common sense.

Owe Aku approaches all activities to preserve and revitalize the Lakota Way of Life in working with the Tiwahe (family), Tiospaye (Relatives Living Together: Extended Family), Lakota Nation, and Oceti Sakowin (Seven Council Fires). We promote and work to protect our Treaty Rights and Human Rights, here on the ground in our hometown and in other arenas where our rights can be protected. Owe Aku focuses on the young generations in order to contribute to the Lakota Nation, and the World, Lakota and other Indigenous People who are firmly grounded in their ancient identity and a healthy lifestyle that includes leadership skills.

On December 19th, the home of Alex and Debra White Plume burned to the ground. The source of the fire is unknown and the family is now rebuilding their lives. Recently, the White Plume's won a unprecedented tribal court case that ushered multi-national mining companies from ever doing business on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

Kent Lebsock Owe Aku (Bring Back the Way) www.bringbacktheway.com
International Justice & Human Rights Project
Telephone: 917-751-4239
Email: iamkent@verizon.net
South Dakota: lakota1@gwtc.net

Canunpa Gluha Mani or Duane Martin regarding the Lakota Declaration of Freedom

The second half hour we talk to Canunpa Gluha Mani or Duane Martin regarding the Lakota Declaration of Freedom on December 17th, four days before the Solistice. He discusses the aspects and personal ideas of how the Lakota Nation will and have survived impossible odds. The resistence of the Lakota Nation to not accept the ongoing treatment by the U.S. governmental policies and a total unilateral withdrawal of all treaties signed.

We are the freedom loving Lakota from the Sioux Indian reservations of Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana who have withdrawn from the constitutionally mandated treaties to become a free and independent country. We are alerting the Family of Nations we have now reassumed our freedom and independence with the backing of Natural, International, and United States law. For more information, please visit our new website at www.republicoflakotah.com.

The Reasons Why
In the face of the colonial apartheid conditions imposed on Lakota people, the withdrawal from the U.S. Treaties is necessary. These conditions have been devastating:

• Lakota men have a life expectancy of less than 44 years, lowest of any country in the World (excluding AIDS) including Haiti.
• Lakota death rate is the highest in the United States.
• The Lakota infant mortality rate is 300% more than the U.S. Average.
• More than half the Reservation's adults battle addiction and disease.
• The Tuberculosis rate on Lakota reservations is approx 800% higher than the U.S national average.
• Alcoholism affects 8 in 10 families.
• Median income is approximately $2,600 to $3,500 per year.
• 1/3 of the homes lack basic clean water and sewage while 40% lack electricty.
• 60% of housing is infected with potentially fatal black molds.
• 97% of our Lakota people live below the poverty line.
• Unemployment rates on our reservations is 85% or higher.
• Federal Commodity Food Program provides high sugar foods that kill Native people through diabetes and heart disease.
• Teenage suicide rate is 150% higher than the U.S national average for this group.
• Our Lakota language is an Endangered Language, on the verge of extinction.

After 150 years of colonial enforcement, when you back people into a corner there is only one alternative. That alternative is to bring freedom back into existence by taking it back - back to the love of freedom, to our lifeway. Canupa Gluha Mani